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What if Don Bluth stayed at Disney?/Balto
Balto is a 1995 American live-action/animated adventure film directed by Don Bluth and Simon Wells, produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The film is loosely based on a true story about the dog of the same name who helped save children from the diphtheria epidemic in the 1925 serum run to Nome. The live-action portions of the film were shot at Central Park in New York City. The film was the last Disney animated feature to been executive produced by Steven Spielberg. Two direct-to-video sequels: Balto II: Wolf Quest (2002) and Balto III: Wings of Change (2004) were released, though none of the voice cast reprised their roles. Unlike the film, the sequels were entirely animated and contain no live action scenes. Plot In New York City, an elderly woman, her granddaughter and her Siberian Husky, Blaze, are walking through Central Park, looking for a memorial statue. As they seat themselves for a rest, the grandmother (Miriam Margoyles) tells a story of the 1925 serum run to Nome, shifting the film from live-action to animation. The story goes back to the winter of 1925 in Nome, Alaska. Balto, a young wolfdog, lives in an abandoned ship on the outskirts of Nome with his adoptive father, a Russian snow goose named Boris and two polar bears, Muk and Luk. Being half-wolf, Balto is shunned by dogs and humans alike. His only friends in town are a red husky named Jenna-- whom Balto has a crush on-- and her owner, Rosy. He is routinely bullied by the town's favorite sled dog, Steele, a fierce and arrogant Siberian Husky with whom he competes for Jenna's attention. The evening after the annual dog race, 18 children, including Rosy, are taken to a hospital, apparently feeling very sick, which worries Jenna. After confirming the diagnosis, the doctor Curtis Welch, informs Rosy's parents in disappointment, that Rosy and the other children have been stricken with diphtheria, and he is out of antitoxin. The local wireless operator relays news of the outbreak and word travels to the territory capital of Juneau, where the governor orders a large box of antitoxin to be sent to Nome. However, severe winter weather conditions prevent medicine from being brought by sea or air and the closest rail line from Juneau ends at Nenana, 600 miles east of Nome. A dog race is held to determine the best-fit dogs for a sled dog team to get the medicine. Balto enters and wins, but Steele sabotages this by stomping on Balto's paw, which forces Balto to growl in pain and accidentally bare his wolf teeth in front of the musher, causing the humans to fear that Balto might turn on the musher due to his wolfdog heritage. The team departs that night with Steele in the lead and successfully picks up the medicine, but on the way back conditions worsen and the disoriented team ends up stranded at the base of a steep mountainside slope with their musher knocked unconscious. When word reaches Nome that the sled team is missing, the town prepares for the worst, and even the town carpenter Mr. Johanson, sadly proceeds to build child-sized coffins for the sick children. Balto sets out in search of the team, along with Boris, Muk and Luk. On the way, they are ambushed by a giant grizzly bear, but Jenna, who followed their mark tracks, intervenes. The bear pursues Balto out onto a frozen lake, where it falls through the ice and drowns, while Muk and Luk dive in to save Balto from a similar fate. Jenna is injured in the bear fight and cannot continue. Balto instructs Boris and the polar bears to take her back home while he continues on alone; Jenna gives him her bandana and Boris gives him some advice. Balto, marking his path by clawing trees, eventually finds the team and offers to guide them home, but Steele, callously and selfishly refusing to accept help, goes ballistic and repeatedly tries to attack Balto, only to lose his balance and fall over a cliff. Balto takes charge of the team, but Steele, being the ingrate that he is, spitefully camouflages Balto's markings with fake ones, and they are thrown off the trail again. As a result, Balto gets scared, panics, and runs too fast, causing the medicine to nearly fall over a cliff. While attempting to save the medicine from falling, Balto himself falls. Back in Nome, Jenna is explaining Balto's mission to the other dogs, but they don't believe her. When Steele returns, he claims the entire team, including Balto, is dead; he uses Jenna's bandana (which he ripped off Balto's neck during the fight) as supposed proof. However, Jenna sees through his lies and insists that Balto is coming home with the medicine, but the other dogs remain skeptical. Using a trick Balto showed her earlier, Jenna places broken colored glass bottles on the boundary of town and shines a lantern on them to simulate an illusion of the Northern Lights, hoping it will help guide Balto home. When Balto regains consciousness, he breaks down in tears, believing himself to have failed miserably, but after a polar wolf appears and Balto notices the medicine still unharmed nearby, he realizes that being part-wolf does not weaken him, but strengthens him. Upon this realization, Balto regains his confidence, and rallying all of his bodily strength, he drags the medicine all the way back up the cliff to the waiting team, impressing them and earning their respect. Through his highly developed senses of smell, Balto is able to filter out the false markings Steele created. After encountering further challenges and losing only one vial, Balto and the sled team finally make it back to Nome. Balto's return with the medicine exposes Steele as a liar and as a result, the other dogs, realizing Jenna was right all along, angrily turn against Steele, ruining his reputation and shattering his pride. Reunited with Jenna, Boris, Muk and Luk, Balto is hailed the town hero by both the other dogs and the townspeople. He visits a cured Rosy, who thanks him for saving her life. As team members Nikki, Kaltag and Star congratulate Balto, Star comments that they should build a statue of Balto, which Kaltag agrees with, much to Star's surprise (as Kaltag had previously spent the entire film smacking him in the face for speaking up). Back in the present day, the elderly woman, her granddaughter and Blaze finally find Balto's memorial (courtesy of Blaze's smell senses), and she explains that even to the present day, Alaska runs the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race over the same path that Balto and his team took from Nenana to Nome. When the woman's granddaughter asks if Blaze can do exactly what Balto did, the woman says that if Blaze practices a lot, it's possible that he can. The woman is then revealed to be an older Rosy when she repeats the same line, "Thank you, Balto. I would've been lost without you," before walking off to join her granddaughter and Blaze. The film ends with Balto's statue standing proudly in the sunlight. Cast Historical differences Release Box office Critical reception Soundtrack Track listing Sequels